The Andhra Pradesh State Government has decided to introduce six question-paper patterns for SSC Public Exam from the current academic year in line with its proposal to introduce CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) in government schools, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
What's different in this new pattern? Physical Sciences (PS) and Natural Sciences (NS) would be in the same paper, but answer scripts shall be distributed separately. Languages and non-languages shall be assessed with one question paper.
Back then, students used to write 11 papers. However, an order was issued to conduct the SSC exam with seven papers in 2021 and 2022 to reduce the strain on the students due to the pandemic.
When was this decision made? This was decided based on a report submitted by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) Director. The report elaborated on the pros and cons of continuing the 11-paper system of examination introduced before the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system in the State.
As per a report by The New Indian Express, before the CCE system, students were evaluated based on four unit tests and two terminal tests. In order to test the student extensively, the public exam for Class X students was conducted with 11 papers and extended to other classes as well.
Sharing views on this, SCERT Director B Pratap Reddy said, "As members of an academic body, we suggested limiting the public exam to six or seven papers to minimise the stress among students." Additionally, Commissioner of School Education S Suresh Kumar submitted the report to the government and requested SCERT to issue orders for the same.
In this regard, Special Chief Secretary (School Education) B Rajasekhar issued the on August 22 and said the government had proposed to affiliate government schools with CBSE and prepare the first batch of students to write the CBSE public exam in the academic year 2024-25. Therefore, they decided to align with CBSE's six-paper pattern.
How are teachers and students reacting?
Municipal Teachers Federation State President S Rama Krishna hinted that the new pattern would reduce exam stress.
AP Upadhyaya Sangam State President Ch Sravan Kuman opined that exams for physical and natural sciences should be conducted separately.
A Class X student N Lakshmi from Venkayapalli studying at ZP High School in a Military colony in Kurnool said six exams instead of 11 will be better for the students. "Writing answers in separate sheets for NS and PS would not be a problem," she added.
